PREDIXIS MUSICMAGIC MIXER USER'S MANUAL
This User Manual gives a detailed overview of how the Predixis MusicMagic Mixer works. Even if you understand the basic functions, you may learn more details and options which will enhance your experience.
To find information about a specific GUI element, go to the screenshot and click on the element that you are interested in.
Items marked as premium are only enabled if you have an active registration key.
File Menu
New Playlist...
This lets you create a new playlist - first choose a location and filename. The new playlist will show up in the Filters/Playlists view on the left-hand-side of the gui. You can see the playlist by clicking on it, which also lets you delete songs in the list. To add songs, simply drag them from any other window, and drop them on to the playlist name.
Open Playlist...
Open an .m3u file and add all of the songs that appear in your library to the song list.
Save As Playlist...
Save the current list of songs as an .m3u file.
Customize Options...
Customize settings for the MusicMagic Mixer.
Enter Registration Key...
View/update your registration key.
Save Library Cache
Saves the current library. Normally this happens automatically. If, however, you want to make sure any outstanding changes are saved, you can force a save manually by selecting this option (for instance after rating a bunch of songs).
Devices (premium)
This menu lets you configure disk based devices. Select Scan For New Devices or Add New Device
Exit
Exit the application.
View Menu
Show Filters/Playlists
This lets you hide or show the leftmost list, which contains filters and playlists. This window also contains the image viewer, if enabled.
Show Genres View
This lets you hide or show the list of genres. If you hide this list, you will not be able to select specific genres, though filters will still work.
Show Albums View
This lets you hide or show the list of albums. If you hide this list, you will not be able to select specific albums.
Show Song/Album Images
This lets you disable or enable showing of cover images. You must be showing the Filters/Playlists view in order to see images.
Choose Artist View
This lets you choose which kinds of artists are shown in the Artists view on the main window. The default is to only show Artists, meaning the artists specifed in the Artist tag of the associated song files. You can instead choose from composers, lyricists, orchestras or conductors. Contributors means include all the different categories.
Choose Skin
Change the look of the MusicMagic Mixer by choosing a new skin. Currently we support Platinum - a light color skin, Sky Blue - a medium color skin, and Charcoal - a dark color skin. If you are interested in designing your own skins, please contact us about availability of documentation for custom skins.
Choose Language
Change the language displayed in the user interface - this affects menus, dialogs, and so forth. To enable this menu, you must first install the language pack, available on the Windows download page.
Library Menu
Add Songs
This lets you add songs to your library. Choose a directory and all MP3, WMA, WAV, Ogg Vorbis & FLAC files will be loaded into your library. This will recursively visit nested directories. Songs which are already in your library will not be added twice, so you can scan entire hierarchies to add new songs to an existing library.
Refresh Songs
Scan all the files that are already in the library. If the metadata has changed, update the stored metadata. If the file no longer exists, remove the reference from the library. If any songs are selected, this will apply only to the selected songs. This command is also available as Ctrl R from the song list.
Delete Songs
Delete selected songs from the library. This will never delete files from your hard disk. You can re-add files at any time by using the Library/Add Songs menu. This command is also available as Ctrl D from the song list.
Start Analysis/Stop Analysis
This lets you start and stop analysis. You can use all the functions of the mixer during analysis. You can control how your cpu is used from the File/Customize Options menu, which also lets you take advantage of multiple CPUs.
Start Analysis on Selected Songs
If any songs are selected, process just those songs right now. when the selected songs are fully analyzed, analysis will stop.
List Duplicates (premium)
Show all the songs that appear more than once in your library. This is helpful in weeding out songs which you would like to delete. If you don't want some songs to show up in your duplicate list, you can right-click on the songs in the duplicate list and select Ignore This Duplicate. (You can always reset this from the Library tab of File/Customize Options.) [See FAQ]
List Unanalyzable
Show all the songs that are not analyzable. All songs under 10 seconds will be marked unanalyzable. Additionally, if the file is corrupt, or requires digital-rights management to decode (i.e. a protected WMA file), it will be unanalyzable. If you have a valid music file that you think should be analyzable, please contact support and we'll be happy to look into it.
If you wish to attempt to reanalyze a file (some updates may contain fixes which allow a previously unanalyzable file to be analyzed), you can right-click on the rejected song and select Reset Status. Then, the song will be scheduled for re-analysis.
List Custom
Show all the songs that match a filter. If you want to create a filter-based list without creating a filter in the Filters/Playlists list, you can use this option to create a filter which will be used only to create this list, and then deleted. This can be helpful if you are looking for a specific set of songs, but don't expect you will want to reuse the search filter.
Generate HTML Report
This option creates an HTML page listing all the albums in your library. This is useful for having a general overview of your collection -- especially if you want to add to your collection.
Morph Playlist (premium)
This command takes the current playlist and uses is to create a second one which is similar, but contains none of the same songs. If the original list was reasonably consistent, this can create interesting lists.
Sync With iTunes
This menu will import the songs, play counts, ratings, last played time, and disabled information for songs which you have in your iTunes library. Nothing is modified in your iTunes library, this just imports data into MusicMagic. If you have ratings in MusicMagic, but not iTunes, they may be overwritten by this process.
Search Menu
Search Artists
Bring up the search dialog with artists selected.
Search Albums
Bring up the search dialog with albums selected.
Search Songs
Bring up the search dialog with songs selected.
Moods Menu
The Moods Menu will display an entry for each mood that you have defined. By selecting a specific mood, you can create a mood mix that contains songs reflecting that mood. For more information, click here.
Save As Mood...
This saves all the green songs from the current playlist to define a mood. You will be prompted to name the mood. After creating the mood, you can access it by name from the Moods menu.
Mood Overview
This will take you take to the page explaining how to create moods.
Help Menu
Online Web Site
Launch your browser and visit http://www.predixis.biz.
Online Forums
Launch your browser and visit http://forums.predixis.com/.
Contact Support
Launch your e-mail client and prepare a message to support@predixis.biz. The subject will include your registration key so you don't need to enter it manually.
Purchase Software
Launch your web browser with the appropriate page for purchasing a yearly subscription or an unlimited license.
Check for Software Updates
Check the MusicMagic server to see if there is a newer version of MusicMagic available for download.
Tip of the Day
Browse through our tips of the day to learn about new ways to use the MusicMagic Mixer.
About Predixis MusicMagic Mixer
Show information about the current version, library, and registration key.
Genre List
This list contains all the genres indicated by the metadata associated with your MP3, WMA, WAV, Ogg Vorbis & FLAC files. The genres are sorted alphabetically and are not case sensitive.
If you disagree with the genre classification, you can right-click on the associated songs and choose Edit Tags to bring up the tag editor. If you use a different tag editor, you'll want to use the Refresh Songs menu option after making any changes.
Any selected genres will act as temporary filters. All other operations will only show artists, albums or songs that are associated with the selected genres.
Artist List
This list contains all the artists indicated by the metadata associated with your MP3, WMA, WAV, Ogg Vorbis & FLAC files and which match the selected Genres. The artists are sorted alphabetically and are not case sensitive. Additionally, names with begin with "A" or "The" are sorted by the rest of the string (i.e. "The Beatles" will be sorted as "Beatles").
If you select one or more artists, the Albums list will show all the albums from those artists that are in your library. (This will also update the Songs list to show songs by the selected artists.)
If you disagree with the artist selection, you can right-click on the associated songs and choose Edit Tags to bring up the tag editor. If you use a different tag editor, you'll want to use the Refresh Songs menu option after making any changes.
Right-click:
Similar Artists... (premium): If you right-click on an artist, you can get a list of Similar Artists, if you have at least 6 songs by that artist. This command is also available as Ctrl S.
Select All Artists: If this album contains songs by multiple artists, you can use this menu item to select all the artists who contributed to the album. This will ensure that the songs window contains all the songs from the album.
View Selected Artists: This will bring up a list of just the selected artists, which you can modify. This list is helpful if you have many artists in the Artists list.
You can double-click on any single artist to play all songs by that artist (shuffled).
Album List
This list contains all the albums as indicated by the metadata associated with your MP3, WMA, WAV, Ogg Vorbis & FLAC files, which match the selected Artists. The albums are sorted alphabetically and are not case sensitive. Additionally, names which begin with "A" or "The" are sorted by the rest of the string.
If you select one or more albums, the Songs list will show all of the songs from those albums that are in your library. If the albums include songs with artists that are not selected, those songs will still be shown in the songs list (in this case, Album trumps Artist).
If you disagree with the album name, you can right-click on the associated songs and choose Edit Tags to bring up the tag editor. If you use a different tag editor, you'll want to use the Refresh Songs menu option after making any changes. (Note: Files must live in the same directory, as other files from the same album, to be considered part of the same album. This is to prevent cases where "Greatest Hits" contains all songs from all albums named "Greatest Hits".)
Right-click:
Similar Albums... (premium): If you right-click on an album, you can get a list of Similar Albums, if you have at least 6 songs from that album. (If the album contains less than 6 songs, then the similar album feature is disabled.) This command is also available as Ctrl S.
View Selected Albums: This will bring up a list of just selected albums, which you can modify - this is helpful if you have many albums in the Albums list.
You can double-click on any single album to play all songs from that album (in track order).
Buttons
Play
Play the selected songs - if no songs are selected, play all songs from the Song list. Sending a .m3u file to the registered .m3u player will play Songs. If you press the CTRL key while pressing this button, all songs in the Song list will be sent to the player, regardless of which are selected.
Right-click:
Play All: Play all songs in the Song list, regardless of selection.
[Player]: Installed players are listed here - choose one to send the playlist to the indicated player.
Shuffle
Change the order of the songs in the playlist. The MusicMagic Mixer supports for different shuffling algorithms - the default is a smooth shuffle.
Right-click: This lets you select one of four algorithms for shuffling the songs in the playlist:
- Random Shuffle - simple random shuffle
- Sawtooth Shuffle (premium) - random shuffle, alternate between loud and quiet songs. (Actually it's more complicated than that, but the general idea is the same.)
- Smooth Shuffle - shuffle to minimize the changes between each adjacent song
- Jagged Shuffle (premium) - shuffle to maximize the changes between each adjacent song
New Mix
Create a list of songs based on the currently selected songs. You can choose the size of the playlist (and how it's created) by choosing Customize Options.
Normally, the Mix button will only recommend songs that are included in the currently selected genres. To make a mix from your entire collection, hold down the CTRL key while pressing the Mix button.
Right-click:
Filters (premium): If you have created any global filters, you can select them from here to make a mix which is restricted to that filter. (For instance, make a mix containing only music added in the last 60 days).
CD Ideas
This lets you find new music which you do not already own. Start from any artist, album, or songs, and choose CD Ideas to bring up your web browser with a list of ideas for new music. These suggestions are linked to stores where you can buy the CD's or listen to sample songs.
Right-click:
By right-clicking on the button, you can choose a store from which suggestions will be made. You can find out more about the stores here.
Song List
This list contains information about a group of currently selected songs. You can choose which columns to show by using the File/Customize Options menu.
The up/down arrows just above the Song list (next to the title) function like browser 'forward' and 'back' buttons, to go back and forth between any lists you have created.
You can sort the Song list by clicking on the column header you wish to sort by. A second click will reverse the sort order.
Right-click: If you right-click on a song, you will get a menu of relevant options.
Open File Location: Open the Windows Explorer with the indicated MP3, WMA, WAV, Ogg Vorbis or FLAC file selected. This is useful for deleting unwanted songs or launching other programs.
Song Information: Display basic information about the current song -- specifically what file corresponds to the song.
Select Artist: If the artist is not currently selected, add the artist to the list of selected artists. (This will add albums, by that artist, to the Albums view.)
Select Album: If the album is not currently selected, add the album to the list of selected albums. (This will add other songs from that album to the song view.)
Reset Status: If a song is unanalyzable (black), or has been marked for insufficient resources, this will tag the file for another attempt at processing. You can select multiple songs to tag an entire group with this option.
Hide Genre: This will hide the genre (or genres) of all selected songs. You can use this to filter out undesirable genres (especially useful when using the Mix button).
Archive Analysis Into Music (premium): This will store the MusicMagic analysis data into the tags stored in your music files. This way, when your song files move, or are accessed from another computer, they will be instantly green with no further identification required.
Edit Tags...: This lets you manually update your tags - simply type in new values where appropriate and press OK or apply. This will update your files on disk so other programs can also access the new information. If you have a change which applies to multiple files, you can change them all at once by selecting all the files together and making the change just once.
Rate This Song/Rate These Songs: This lets you attach a rating of one to five stars to any songs (or clear ratings you have already set). These ratings can be used when setting up filters to restrict the songs you are looking at.
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Some options are only available in certain lists. For Mix lists, you will have two more options:
Less Like This (premium): This will create a new mix which is similar to the current mix, but removes songs which are like the selected song.
More Like This (premium): This will create a new mix which is similar to the current mix, but includes more songs like the selected song.
Replace This Song (premium): This will choose a new song to replace the currently selected song or songs.
Replace This Artist (premium): This will choose new songs to replace all songs by the artist (or artists) of the currently selected song (or songs). No new songs by any of those artists will be added to this mix.
For duplicate lists, you will have one additional option:
Ignore This Duplicate (premium): This will cause the selected song to not be shown in any future lists of duplicates unless at least one of the duplicates is not marked ignorable.
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